Shortly after
Michaelmas, on October 2nd, we celebrate the Feast of the
Holy Guardian Angels.
"Every person on earth has a guardian angel who watches over him and helps him to attain his salvation. Angelical guardianship begins at the moment of birth; prior to this, the child is protected by the mother's guardian angel. It continues throughout our whole life and ceases only when our probation on earth ends, namely, at the moment of death. Our guardian angel accompanies the soul to purgatory or heaven, and becomes our coheir in the heavenly kingdom." ~
Catholic Culture
Here are a few of our plans for this special feast.
Prayer:
Before dinner, we will pray the following table blessing:
Reading: They come, God's messengers of love, they come from realms of peace above, from homes of never-fading light, from blessful mansions ever bright. Lord, to us the zeal of angels give, with love to serve you while we live; To us an angel-guard supply, when on the bed of death we lie. (Robert Campbell)
Responsory Verse: God gave his angels charge over us,
Response: to protect us in all our ways.
The Lord's Prayer
Blessing: Almighty God, our creator, we unite with the choir of angels to sing your praises daily. And today, we give you thanks for giving the angels to us, as messengers of your mysteries and as protectors of our bodies and souls. Grant us to share this meal in peace, joy, and thanksgiving, being always mindful of the unfailing protection of our guardian angels. We ask you this, through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
We will also pray the Angel of God, The Angelus, and I will pray my personal
favorite, A Mother's Prayer to the Guardian Angels of her children:
I humbly salute you, O you faithful, heavenly Friends of my children! I give you heartfelt thanks for all the love and goodness you show them. At some future day I shall, with thanks more worthy than I can now give, repay your care for them, and before the whole heavenly court acknowledge their indebtedness to your guidance and protection. Continue to watch over them. Provide for all their needs of body and soul. Pray, likewise, for me, for my husband, and my whole family, that we may all one day rejoice in your blessed company. Amen.
Food/Snacks:
I still haven't decided on a recipe for dinner yet, though it will most likely be a dish made with Angel Hair pasta.
But for dessert, in contrast to the "Devil's Food" cupcakes that we made for the feast of St. Michael, I plan on making an "Angel Food" cake for this feast day. I will serve it with of fluffy
whipping cream clouds!
In fact, I
may buy a ready made angel food cake, and make a trifle. It's super easy and very yummy. Just tear the cake up into bite sized pieces, and layer them alternately with fresh strawberries or raspberries and whipped cream. I would use my favorite trifle bowl, but any bowl will do.
And for an afternoon treat, the children will each receive an Angel Lollipop Favor that was sent home from the Autumn Festival we attended last week. A very talented mom made these for all the children out of card stock! I love them!
Reading:
Crafts:
- Make Rainbow Angels! We are still on "a" (for Angels!) week (I am switching to a letter every 2 weeks -- with everything else, one per week is just too much!) and since we will be learning about both Colors and Angels this week in Little Saints!
- Angel of God Craft provided in Little Saints
- Color Charlotte's adorable coloring page to add to our notebooks along with our copywork.
Copywork:
Angel of God,
My Guardian Dear,
to whom His love commits me here,
ever this day be at my side,
to light and to guard,
to rule and guide. Amen.
O my dear Angel Guardian, preserve me from the misfortune of offending God.
This is quite the week for celebrating feasts in the Church, isn't it?! We started with Michaelmas yesterday, today is the feast of St. Jerome, and we also will be celebrating St. Therese, the Holy Guardian Angels, and St. Francis as well! (Click the links to see our plans.)
Today we celebrate the feast of St. Jerome. St. Jerome is one of the great "Fathers of the Church." He is best known for his translation of the Bible into Latin, called the Vulgate (meaning "common language of the people"). It is historically the most important vernacular edition of the Holy Scriptures. He was a brilliant man, and St. Augustine has been quoted to say, "What Jerome is ignorant of, no man has ever known."
Last night, as I was cleaning the kitchen, I noticed our cupcake stand was still more than half full (Dinner was so yummy and filling, that my children were hardly able to eat one cupcake each.). I remembered the lion cupcakes we made for the feast of St. Mark. It wouldn't be hard to turn those leftover cupcakes into lions! (Jenn was thinking along the same lines!)
So, after lunch today, the kids and I made some caramel corn -- this recipe from Mary is sooooo easy and delicious!-- and then the kids decorated the cupcakes to enjoy as they colored and listened to a couple stories about St. Jerome.
Other than that, we just stuck with a couple core subjects today (Math, Language Arts and Religion), and have spent the rest of the time enjoying having hubby/daddy back home! :)
for dessert, and serving it with a 
